Active SEB

The sketch was done on June 15^th between 20:05UT - 20:55UT, while following the lunar eclipse on that very same evening. 

Saturn was observed with a 200mm SCT using a Meade 82A filter, a Televue 2.5x barlow, light pollution filter and a GSO 10mm plossl eyepiece.  Seeing was very good, around 7/10. For the sketching I used coloured pencils and white paper. The image was scanned at 600dpi using GIMP.

Check out other ALPO reports of Saturn for the same day. 

Ring System

Ring A had a dark yellow colour but no fine minima were evident. 

The Cassini division was evident at the two extreme edges next to ring A. Ring B showed a a uniform dirty-yellow color, and created a contrast against Cassini.  

Ring C was broad, dark grey and partly merged with ring B.

Planetary banding

The NEB was a warm brownish colour, with no apparent local tonality.

The SEB had a slightly darker colour, flanked to the south by the lighter South Polar Region which was divided into 2 storm-belts. There was a lighter region on both left and right side of the SPR, but it was difficult to get a distinct sharp view of this interesting and active region.

Lunar eclipse, first of 2011

AN ASTRONOMICAL SKETCH OF THE DAY

This is my first composite sketch of a total lunar eclipse that took place yesterday on June 15, 2011.
It was the first of two such eclipses in 2011. The second will occur on December 10, 2011.

Click here for animated sketch.

I used graphite with blender and an orange pencil colour. Sketching was done at the 40mm eyepiece using
SCT 8" f/10. Conditions were clear and seeing was 7/10.

The individual sketches were made on scanned sketches of the full moon. Scanning was done at 600 dpi and processed using GIMP. I enjoyed sketching the various phases of the eclipse especially during the fast-changing penumbral phase.

In my sketches I tried to capture the interesting tonality of the orange colour shading visible over parts of the eclipsed region of the moon.

This was a relatively rare central lunar eclipse, in which the center point of Earth's shadow passes across the Moon. The eclipse was visible rising over South America, western Africa, and Europe, and setting over eastern Asia.